No problems seen with European election observers

Updated 1:28 am, Saturday, October 27, 2012

Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade said Friday that European election observers have caused no problems with the state's voting process, but she declined to criticize state Attorney General Greg Abbott for threatening them with arrest.

Abbott's letter was the latest round in a public spat that began Tuesday when he warned the group's representatives to stay at least 100 feet from all polling places and said they would be subject to “criminal prosecution” if they failed to comply with that requirement.

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In response, OSCE contacted the U.S. State Department, requesting that organization representatives not be “restrained in their activities” in Texas.

The Texas Election Code prohibits election observers from entering a precinct polling site unless they have received a certificate of appointment from a political party or group, and are qualified voters in the county in which they plan to serve.

Abbott's letter to Clinton accused the OSCE of harboring a “political agenda,” and reiterated his threat to have OSCE observers arrested if they attempted to enter a polling site on Election Day.

OSCE, an international organization represented by 56 nations, has been monitoring elections across the United States since 2002.

OSCE has two female election observers — one from Great Britain and one from Denmark — currently in Texas, gathering information from election administrators and planning to observe the voting process Nov. 6.

Andrade, who stopped here Friday as part of her statewide tour of county election offices, said no violations of state law have been committed by OSCE representatives during their stay in Texas.

She said she recently met with the OSCE observers and they fully agreed not to enter any Texas polling sites, a sentiment affirmed by the organization in a letter they sent to Andrade's office.

While Andrade doesn't share Abbott's concerns about the conduct of the OSCE observers, she curtly commended him for his handling of the issue.

Jacque Callanen, Bexar County elections administrator, said she met with the OSCE observers last week and described them as “delightful.” She added that it was “frustrating to see this (issue) get pumped up.”

OSCE spokesman Thomas Rymer said Friday that the group picked the four states with the most electoral votes to monitor, and Texas happened to be one of them.

Rymer added that OSCE monitors were in San Antonio in 2008 without incident.

Abbott widely is viewed as a likely candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2014. He has clashed with federal judges in recent months over judicial rejection of the state's voter ID law and redistricting maps, both largely crafted by Republican lawmakers.

In his Tuesday letter to OSCE, Abbott speculated that the organization was motivated by an objection to the state's voter ID law, even though the law has not been implemented.